=kit011.txt

KIT 11 - Awakening and Creativity

Awakening and creativity, the two poles of life's activity:  the
universe discovering itself in each extension of itself, and the
universe existentiating itself as it mutates by fostering
inventiveness in each extension of itself.

Let us think of ourselves as extensions of the universe rather
than fractions, and the universe as the being we call God.  For
example, the live cell is not really a component of the body, but
the expression of the whole program of the body (the DNA). 
Likewise, we are an expression of the universe as a whole and
therefore of God, rather than a fraction of that universe or a
creature.  It is our realization of this in the course of our
activity that is the first half of what we mean by spirituality. 
The second half is manifesting and existentiating the program -
that is, the mind of God - in which we participate or to which we
contribute by our creativity.  The Sufis call the first "God
Consciousness" and the second "manifesting the manner of God".

One could describe awakening as what would hypothetically happen
to a live cell if it discovered the code of the whole body and was
able to see itself as an expression of that code, and, to push the
argument in infinite regress, if it could reach into the thinking
of the universe and see itself as an expression of that thinking. 
Or a villager on a world tour.  Or simply an astrophysicist
discovering the galaxies.  Or, better still, a planetarian on a
spacecraft who becomes a space-person.  But one has to bear in
mind that what one is discovering is really the reality of which
one is an extension; therefore, one discovers one's cosmic
dimension.

But creativity is one step further:  it is discovering
possibilities that have not yet manifested in the universe by
actuating them, just like an aircraft creates its own path rather
than following an already constructed highway.  Or, better still,
the space engineer who discovers the mathematics that will chart
the optimal track for the spacecraft.  Or an electron that finds a
further shell for its orbit around the proton when existing shells
have already been occupied.  Where do those shells exist if not in
an inherent harmony governing physical phenomena?   They are not
material things like roads or tracks in the desert.

We must be wary of thinking of this harmony as "pre-established"
as Leibniz did, but as being invented step by step as the
practical need arises.  This is what the Sufis mean when they say
that God had to existentiate Himself in order to discover Himself
- that is, existentiate what He could become (which possibilities
are inexhaustible) by becoming it in us, rather than manifesting
what He already is (which is the religious dogmatic view).

This is why I believe the Sufi teachings represent the spiritual
dimensions of the scientific paradigms of our time.  Ibn 'Arabi
calls the human "the created creator" (rather than the created
creature) and Murshid emphasizes human creativity as being an
extension of the divine creativity.  Of all works of art, he gives
priority to the art of personality.  By discovering a new way of
being, one contributes towards the advance of the harmony that is
the software of the universe.  We are the being of God discovering
unforeseeable possibilities within Himself by concretizing that
which has never been done before.  This means prefiguring the new
perspectives by inventing the way as one advances, finding new
ways of being by customizing the advancing trend of the harmony of
the universe in one's personality.  This is called pragmatic
knowledge as compared with proto-critic knowledge, knowledge
gained by experience rather than theoretical knowledge (sometimes
called transcendent knowledge).

And Ibn 'Arabi says, "By discovering His Consciousness in my
consciousness, I confer upon Him a mode of knowledge, and by
grasping His Nature behind my nature, I confer upon Him a mode of
existence." It follows from these propositions that by recognizing
His Consciousness focalized as my consciousness, I confer upon Him
a mode of existence because in the light of His Consciousness, I
can earmark His Nature transpiring through my personality, and
consequently actuate it.  Reciprocally, by actuating His Nature in
my personality, I confer upon Him a knowledge of His Being that
adds something to the knowledge that He had of Himself prior to
projecting Himself into existence as me.

Murshid describes the transcendent knowledge as the state where
human consciousness reaches into the divine conscience prior to
the existential condition and the latter God's awakening through
human experience.  By emphasizing the empirical knowledge, I do
not mean to discount the transcendent one.  Murshid said wisdom is
the interface between the external knowledge of the soul and the
know-how gleaned by experience.  Of course, the extrapolation
between the Sufi view and the new paradigms of science is mutually
cross-pollinating and excitingly promising for the future of human
thought.  As evolution proceeds, human thought advances like a
tide untiringly breaking into new horizons.

In practice, what does it mean for the individual?   Being more
luminous, joyous, aware, sovereign, life-giving, loving
compassionate and honest than the universe has produced so far. 
Is that possible?   Why not?   Murshid says it is our ignorance of
our divinity that is our limitation.  We are not just the plant we
think we are, but also the seed, and not only does the seed expect
to reappear at the end of the cycle of the plant, but it carries
within itself infinite possibilities of splendid mutations.
    
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